Emergency
Is it an emergency?
If you are already worried, ring now: 01291 496 0169, at any hour. Otherwise, choose what you can see below. This is general guidance, and it does not replace a vet looking at your horse.
What can you see?
- ColicRolling, pawing, looking at the belly, off food
- Sudden lamenessWon’t put the foot down, or is suddenly very sore
- A woundA cut, a puncture, or anything bleeding
- A sore eyeClosed, weeping, swollen or looking different
- FoalingShe has started, or the foal is not right
Ring today. Eyes do not wait until the morning after.
A shut or weeping eye is painful, and a small scratch on the surface can turn into a sight-threatening ulcer in a day or so. Treated early, most of them heal very well.
Ring straight away if
- An injury you can see, or a torn eyelid
- The eye has gone cloudy or blue, or the shape has changed
- A sudden loss of vision, or walking into things
While we drive
- Bring the horse in out of the sun and the wind, and put a fly mask on if it will wear it.
- Note whether it is closed, weeping, cloudy, or looks different from the other eye.
- Keep it from rubbing on anything: take out hay nets at eye height.
Please do not
- Do not use old eye ointment from the cupboard. Some of those make ulcers much worse.
- Do not force the eye open.
- Do not wait to see whether it clears up by Friday.
General guidance, not a diagnosis. If what you see does not fit this page, or you just do not like the look of your horse, ring. You know your horse, and that counts.
Worried? Ring. Nobody here minds an unnecessary call.
A vet answers, day or night, and advice on the phone is free. For everything else, there is a round day.